A huge win for the Burroughs girls basketball team

You cannot understate the importance of this win for the Burros.After losing its last two and with expectations high for this team this year, the Burroughs girls basketball team stepped up its game in the second half to get a huge 52-45 win over Oak Hills Friday in the Burroughs Barn.

After losing its last two games and with expectations high for this team this year, the Burroughs girls basketball team stepped up its intensity in the second half to get a huge 52-45 win over Oak Hills Friday in the Burroughs Barn.

"We really needed that," BHS Coach Robert Campbell said. "We lost two games in a row that we could have won, so this was huge for us before we start league next week. Now, we have to take care of a few things and keep it going. We beat a really good team tonight, but there are always more things to work on."

The Burros closed the third quarter on a 13-0 run and opened the fourth quarter on a 13-2 run to get the team's first signature win since their playoff victory two years ago against Blair.

"When we went to the 1-1-3 half-court trap, the game changed for us," Campbell said. "I didn't want to press them in the first half because I wanted to see what they had and I thought we needed to work on our matchup zone. I thought we could wait to the second half and go to the press somewhere in the third quarter. Once we did, the pace of the whole game changed in our favor."

The Burros (4-2) forced forced Oak Hills (5-2) into 26 turnovers and kept the Bulldogs' top scorer Jannon Otto in check by double and triple teaming her every time she touched the ball. Otto had seven points and barely played at all during the second half because of foul trouble, which was a drastic contrast to her 29-point night against Victor Valley on Wednesday.

With the Burroughs defense causing fits for the Bulldogs, the Burroughs offense started to score in bunches. The Burros had six different players score — Madison Schiller, Talia Forsythe, Candace Perez and Alex Simmons all had two, while Aubrey Hayes had five — in their 13-0 run to end the third quarter.

Hayes had seven points in the third quarter alone and finished with 14 on the night.

"Aubrey had no points in the first half, but she rebounded tonight. She had five defensive rebounds then started scoring in the second half," Campbell said. "By the end of the game, she had 14 points. That was huge for us. Celsea (McGrew) came in and rebounded as well. She had 10 board, while Joanna (O'Neil) added nine."

Burroughs trailed 29-19 halfway through the third quarter, but led 32-29 by the end of the frame. The Burros stayed hot to start the fourth. Hayes and Simmons carried the team on their backs, accounting for all 13 points during the Burros' 13-2 run to open the fourth quarter. Hayes and Simmons both hit one 3-pointer each, with Simmons scoring seven of the points during the run and Hayes scoring the other six.

Page 2 of 3 - "Alex had a great game," Campbell said. "She had nine points in the fourth quarter. In the second half, we scored 36 points. We outscored them 36-25. We were down 29-19, but found a way put it all together. It's pretty satisfying."

Burroughs led by as many as 13 points in the fourth quarter before Oak Hills made a comeback push. Burroughs was 4-of-9 from the foul line during the final few minutes, leaving the door open to an Oak Hills comeback late in the ball game.

Oak Hills forward Bree Maikai took charge of the Bulldogs offense with Otto off the floor. Maikai made a coupl mid-range jump shots to get the game into single digits. Bryanna Lopez and Jennifer Vietia both hit 3-pointers to cut the Burros' lead to 50-45 with under a minute left, but the Burros held on to secure the win.

The first half started slow for both teams.

In all, the first half had 36 turnovers with both teams around 20 by the break.

Burroughs had trouble with the man-to-man press that Oak Hills ran, while the Bulldogs had problems penetrating the Burros' matchup zone.

"The matchup zone worked well for us," Campbell said. "We held them to 20 points in the first half, but we just couldn't score. We were 6-of-24 from the field in the first half. It was awful. We had trouble on our press break because we weren't getting our guards to clear out and our bigs to come in. We did a better job of that in second half."

By the end of the first quarter, the score was 9-5 Oak Hills.

In the second quarter, Perez gave the team a boost. She had the first five Burroughs points of the quarter and went on a 5-0 run by herself to give the Burros a 10-9. She got three quick steals and turned those steals into points.

"Candace had five steals in the game," Campbell said. "She had a really nice beginning to the second quarter. We needed her to step up at that time."

When Rachelle Schiller hit the floor, she was a one-person press break, which made Oak Hills get out of their press later in the ball game. Her quick first step gave the Bulldogs problems all night. She had only three points, but changed the way Oak Hills played. Campbell said her real value comes on the defensive side of the floor because she can get to anyone from anywhere on the floor.

The Burros were led by Hayes' 14 points and six rebounds. Simmons had 11 points, all of which came in the second half. Perez had eight points and five steals. Madison Schiller had six points. Chantia Jennings and Forsythe had four points each, while Celsea McGrew added two points.

Page 3 of 3 - The Burros move on to face Barstow to start league play at 4 p.m. Wednesday in Barstow.